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Real estate sellers finding local maket difficult

Cathy Seligman at the home she is selling at 531 South Teal Court on the Redlands.

By {screen_name}
Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cathy Seligman is “strung out,” as the real estate professionals describe it. That means she has bought one house and is still trying to sell her last one.

It’s not a comfortable place to be, living in one house and having her previous home still for sale, Seligman acknowledged, but, “That’s the state we’re in.”

Her home at 531 Teal Court in South Rim has been on the market since August. Sixteen business cards left by real estate agents reveal she’s had at least that many showings, and there have been a couple open houses.

But bites? Nothing yet.

Far from desperate, Seligman said she’s in for the long haul. After all, she’s seen far worse than the current recession, she said.

Seligman, 42, was in high school in Parachute in 1982, the year the oil shale bust took the wind out of the Western Slope economy for nearly a decade.

“This,” she said, “is not as bad as that.”

Still, the recession is taking its toll.

She has twice dropped the asking price, from $559,900 to the current $524,900, and Seligman said she’s willing to look at making some kind of arrangement to get the sale done.

“Right now you have to be creative to move these houses,” she said.

A property manager in her own right, Seligman said she might be a bit more motivated than she would be otherwise to get a deal completed. She isn’t about to be stampeded, though, she said.

“I have the luxury of being able to be patient,” Seligman said.

Carrying costs, however, pile up each month, and she still checks the mailbox just in case something important happens to be there.

There’s plenty to like in the house: five bedrooms on a half-acre lot that sits across the street from the Colorado Riverfront Trail. The mother of two still looks fondly at the swing set in the backyard.

“I hope a really great family gets it,” she said.

The fact remains the economy is unsettled.

“All the balls are in the air, and nobody knows where they’ll land,” she said. “I think people are scared.”